Food is essential for life. It should be pure, nutritious and free from any type of adulteration for proper maintenance of human health.Guilt will be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months and up to 3 years and with fine up to one thousand rupees.

1. Food adulteration
and detection in
relation to physical,
chemical,
microbiological and
sensory aspects
Submitted By
Sukhveer Singh

2. What Is Food Adulteration?
• Food is essential for life. It should be pure, nutritious
and free from any type of adulteration for proper
maintenance of human health.
• Every consumer wants to get maximum quantity of a
commodity for as low a price as possible.
• This attitude of the consumer being coupled with the
intention of the traders to increase the margin of profit,
where the quality of the commodity gets reduced
through addition of a baser substance and / or
removal of vital elements also commonly known as
food adulteration.

3. • Under the Prevention of Food Adulterant
Act,1955 an Adulterant is any material which be
employed for the purposes of adulteration.
• Any article of food is adulterated if ;
1. If any inferior or cheaper substance has been
substituted wholly or in part,
2. If any constituent of the article has been wholly or
in part abstracted
3. If the article has been prepared, packed or kept
under insanitary conditions.

4. 4. If the article consists in part filthy, rotten, decomposed
or diseased animal or vegetable or is infested with
insects
5. If the article is obtained from diseased animal
6. If the article contains any poisonous ingredient
7. If the article has unprescribed colouring substance or the
colouring substance is in excess of the prescribed limits.
8. If the article contains any prohibited or excessive
preservatives.
9. If the quality or purity of the article falls below
prescribed standard

5. • Adulteration of foods can either be intentional,
unintentional or natural.
• Intentional adulteration- Some examples of intentional
adulteration are addition of water to liquid milk,
extraneous matter to ground spices, or the removal or
substitution of milk solids from the natural products.
• Unintentional adulteration- Unintentional adulteration
is usually attributed to ignorance, carelessness or lack of
facilities for maintaining food quality. This kind of
adulteration results from pesticide and insect residues or
microorganisms entering the food right from the farm
through other stages leading to the customer.
Types of adulteration

6. • Natural adulteration- This occurs due to the presence of
certain chemicals, organic compounds or radicals naturally
occurring in foods which are injurious to health and are not
added to the foods intentionally or unintentionally.
• Some of the examples are toxic varieties of pulses, mushrooms,
green and other vegetables, fish and sea foods.
• About 5000 species of marine fish are known to be poisonous
and many of these are among edible varieties
• Different type of adulteration lead to the change in food quality
in terms of physical, chemical, microbiological, and sensory
quality of foods.

7. Injurious Adulterants and their Health Effects
Food
adultera
-tion

8. S. No. Name of the food
product
Common Adulterants Diseases caused
1. Black pepper Dried papaya seeds Stomach irritation, liver
damage, cancer
2. Arahar dal Yellow dye, kesari dal Leprosy, paralysis
3. Coffee powder chicory Deprived from nutrition
value
4. Gram dal Kesari dal, clay, stone Stomach disorder, lathyrism
5. Butter and pure desi
ghee
Starch, vanaspati ghee Food poisoning
6. Milk Water, starch, fatless milk Stomach disorder
7. Jeera Stone, alike seeds from wild plants Stomach disorder, liver
damage
8. Chilly powder Brick powder, artificial colours Liver damage, stomach
irritation
9. Sugar Fine white sand, chalk powder, rawa Stomach disorder
10. Cereals Stone pieces, mud, ergot seeds Stomach disorder

9. S. No. Adulterant Foods Commonly
Involved
Diseases or Health
Effects
Adulterants in food
1. Argemone seeds
Argemone oil
Mustard seeds
Edible oils and fats
Epidemic dropsy,
Glaucoma, Cardiac
arrest
2. Artificially coloured foreign
seeds
As a substitute for cumin
seed, Poppy seed, black
pepper
Injurious to health
3. Foreign leaves or exhausted
tea leaves, saw dust
artificially coloured
Tea Injurious to health,
Cancer
4. TCP Oils Paralysis
5. Rancid oil Oils Destroys vitamin A and
E
6. Sand, marble chips, stones,
filth
Food grains, pulses etc. Damage digestive tract
Common Adulteration

10. Chemical contamination and adulteration
• Food adulteration by chemicals is the process of adding
chemical substances with foods, which should not be
contained within food and beverages. Chemical
substances or simply adulterants may be unintenationally
added to substances to reduce manufacturing costs, or for
some deceptive or malicious purpose.
Which chemicals are added to foods and how the foods
are adulterated:
• Oleomargarine or lard is the fatty acid added to butter,
which is cheap and can be easily made industrially.

11. • Rapeseed that has been linked with adverse effects in
asthma, allergies and hay fever, is commonly added to
sunflower oil and soyabean oil.
• All artificial colours are highly toxic such as copper,
zinc or indigo-based green dyes, are added to soft and
hard drinks, and in colouring sweets etc.
• Amylum is the polysaccharide carbohydrate, which
forms the crystalline form in the liver and creates
digestion problem. It is added to sausages as a
thickening, stiffening or gluing agent.

12. Chemical Contamination
S. No. Adulterant Foods Commonly Involved Diseases or Health Effects
1. Mineral oil (white
oil, petroleum
fractions)
Edible oils and fats, Cancer
2. Methanol Alcoholic liquors Blurred vision, blindness,
death
3. Arsenic Fruits such as apples sprayed
over with lead arsenate
Dizziness, cramps, paralysis,
death
4. Cobalt Water, liquors Cardiac insufficiency and
mycocardial failure
5. Copper Food Vomiting, diarrhoea
6. Tin Food Colic, vomiting
7. Zinc Food Colic, vomiting
8. Lead Water, natural and processed
Food
Lead poisoning (foot-drop,
insomnia, anemia,
constipation, mental
retardation, brain damage)

13. Microbiological contamination and
adulteration
• The fact that a food is contaminated with pathogens
(harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, or
protozoa) may, or may not, render it adulterated.
• Generally, for ready-to-eat foods, the presence of
pathogens will render the food adulterated.
• For example, the presence of Salmonella on fresh
fruits or vegetables or in ready-to-eat meat or poultry
products (such as luncheon meats) will render those
products adulterated.

14. • For raw meat or poultry products, the presence of pathogens will
not always render a product adulterated (because raw meat and
poultry products are intended to be cooked, and proper cooking
should kill pathogens).
• Raw poultry contaminated with Salmonella is not adulterated.
However, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has
ruled that raw meat or poultry products contaminated with E. coli
O157:H7 are adulterated.
• This is because normal cooking methods may not reduce E. coli
O157:H7 below infectious levels. E. coli O157:H7 is the only
pathogen that is considered an adulterant when present in raw
meat or poultry products.

15. Simple Tests For The Detection Of
Food Adulteration
1. Stone chips in Rice-
• Place the rice grains on the palm of the hand
and gradually immerse the hand in water. The
stone chips will sink.
2. Metanil yellow in pulses
• Shake 5 gm of the suspected pulses with 5 ml
of water. Add a few drops of hydrochloric
acid. A pink colour shows the presence of
metanil yellow.

16. 3. Kesari Dal in Channa or Other Dals
• Add 5 ml of normal hydrochloric acid to a small
quantity of dal in a glass. Keep the glass in
simmering water for 15 minutes. Development of
pink colour indicates the presence of Kesari dal.
By visual detection shape of dal. The kesari dal is
wedge shaped.

17. 4. Ergot in Bajra seeds
• Put some grains in a glass containing 20% salt
solution. Ergot will float on the surface while
sound bajra seeds will sink.
5. Coal-tar dye in Roasted Gram
• The colour is obviously visible.
6. Iron filings in Rawa (Sooji)
• Pass a magnet through the rawa. The iron filing
will cling to it.

18. 7. Water in milk:
• Measure the specific gravity with a lactometer. The
normal values will fall between 1.030 and 1.034.
Milkmen are wise to the test and may dilute the milk
only to the right density, so this is only a rough test.
8. Starches in milk:
• Add a drop of iodine solution to a small quantity of
milk. Milk containing starch turns blue. Pure milk
turns a coffee shade.

19. 9. Vanaspati in pure ghee
• Take about one teaspoonful of melted butter with an
equal quantity of concentrated hydrochloric acid in a
test tube. Add 2 or 3 drops of furfural solution. Shake it
well for one minute and let it stand for five minutes.
Appearance of pink colour in the lower layer of acid
means that vanaspati is present in pure ghee/butter as
an adulterant.
10. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and other
starches in butter
• Perform the Iodine test for starch.

20. 11. Cheap edible oils in Vanaspati
• Add a solution of washing soda to the sample of
vanaspati and shake it in a test tube. If froth appears
on the top, it may be inferred that cheap oil has been
added to vanaspati.
12. Argemone oil in mustard oil
• Heat the mixture of oils with a little amount of nitric
acid for two to three minutes. A red colour will
appear if argemone is present.

21. 13. Artificial dye in tea leaves
• Deposit the tea leaves on a moistened blotting paper.
Artificially dyed tea leaves will impart colour to the
moistened blotting paper immediately.
14. Powdered date seeds or tamarind powder in
coffee
• Sprinkle a little coffee powder on a piece of blotting
paper and spread a few drops of potassium hydroxide
solution over this paper. If a brown colour emerges
around the particles of coffee, adulteration is
established.

22. 15. Chicory in Coffee Powder
• Sprinkle a small quantity of coffee powder on the
surface of water in a glass tumbler. Particles of
genuine coffee powder will float, but chicory
particles will begin to sink within seconds. They will
also leave a stain of colour in the water.
16. Chalk or any other dust or dirt in sugar
• Dissolve sugar in water, the impurities will settle
down at the bottom.

23. 17. Jaggery with Metanil yellow
• Hydrochloric acid added to a solution of the jaggery will
turn it magenta red.
18. Bura sugar with washing soda
• Gives off everscence with hydrochloric acid.
19. If dissolved in water, the washing soda will turn red
litmus into blue.
20. Grit in spices
• The powdered spices dissolve in carbon tetrachloride. In
water, the spices will float and grit will settle down at
bottom.

24. 21. Resin or gum or colour in asafoetida
• Pure asafoetida dissolves in water to form a milky
solution. Pure asafoetida burns with a bright flame
on ignition.
22. Talc powder in cardamom
• Essential oil is removed from the cardamom. It is
then rubbed with talc powder to look fresh. The
talc powder will stick to the fingers. On tasting, if
any aromatic taste is present it indicates the
removal of essential oil.

26. What Can We Do ?
• Food Adulteration occur in rural as well as urban
areas. So the first option is to buy branded and
ISI-marked products. Even if these branded items
cost a little extra, it is worth paying the extra
amount to safe guard your health.
• If any person manufactures for sale, stores, sell
imports or distributes any article of food which is
adulterated or misbranded, he is liable under the
PFA Act to be punished with imprisonment and
fined.

27. • If you find that any food is adulterated, then do not
keep silent. Complain to Prevention of Food
Adulteration Department in your city / town / district
and report to the newspapers and make more and
more people aware to take joint action.

28. Enforcement Actions against Adulterated
Food
Foods
Safe and Healthy food

29. The U.S. Food Safety System
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
– Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC),
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• State and local health departments

30. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
“FDA regulates $417 billion worth of domestic
food and $49 billion worth of imported food each
year—everything we eat except for meat, poultry,
and some egg products, which are regulated by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

31. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
(HACCP)
“A management system in which food safety is
addressed through the analysis and control of
biological, chemical, and physical hazards from
raw material production, procurement and
handling, to manufacturing, distribution and
consumption of the finished product”

32. USDA, The Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS)
• Presently the FSIS lacks a comprehensive national
regulatory program that governs the handling of
poultry, egg, and meat products once they leave
the leave a regulated plant
• ”As of now, a mishmash of state and local
regulations govern the transportation of these
perishable foods from the time they leave the plant
to the time they reach the consumer”

33. Food Safety and Standards Authority of
India (FSSAI)
• The FSSAI is responsible for protecting and
promoting public health through the regulation and
supervision of food safety.
• The FSSAI has been established under the Food
Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a
consolidating statute related to food safety and
regulation in India.

34. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
• The Act was promulgated by Parliament in 1954 to
make provision for the prevention of adulteration of
food, along with the Prevention of Food Adulteration
Rules, 1955 which was incorporated in 1955 as an
extension to the Act.
• Broadly, the PFA Act covers food standards, general
procedures for sampling, analysis of food, powers of
authorized officers, nature of penalties and other
parameters related to food.

35. • It deals with parameters relating to food additives,
preservative, colouring matters, packing & labelling of
foods, prohibition & regulations of sales etc.
• The provisions of PFA Act and Rules are implemented
by State Government and local bodies as provided in the
rules.
• Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 will be
repealed from the date to be notified by the Central
Government as per the Food Safety and Standards
Act,2006.

36. Vegetable Oil Products Order, 1998
• The Vegetable Oil Products industry is regulated by this
Order through the Directorate of Vanaspati, Vegetable
Oils & Fats, Department of Food, Public Distribution,
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and Food & Public
Distribution.
• The earlier two Orders – Vegetable Oil Products
(Control) Order, 1947 and Vegetable Oil Products
(Standards of Quality) Order, 1975 have been replaced
by a single Order called “Vegetable Oil Products
(Regulation) Order, 1998 for proper regulation of
manufacture, distribution and sale of Vegetable Oil
Products.

37. Fruit Product Order (FPO), 1955 .
• Fruit Products Order -1955, promulgated under
Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act - 1955,
with an objective to manufacture fruit & vegetable
products maintaining sanitary and hygienic conditions
in the premises and quality standards laid down in the
Order. It is mandatory for all manufacturers of fruit and
vegetable products including some non fruit products
like non fruit vinegar, syrup and sweetened aerated
water to obtain a license under this Order. Following
minimum requirements are laid down in the Fruit
Product Order for hygienic production and quality
standards.

38. Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal and Edible
Flour (Control) Order, 1967
• The Order is basically a quality control order to ensure
that the solvent extracted oils in particular are not reached
to the consumers for consumption before the same are
refined and conformed to the quality standards specified
in the Order for the purpose.
• Standards for the solvent (hexane), which is to be used for
extraction of oil from the oil-bearing materials, have also
been specified so as to eliminate possible contamination
of oil from the solvent used.

39. PREVENTION OF FOOD
ADULTERATION, ACT 1954
OBJECTIVE:
To protect the interests of
the consumers by
eliminating fraudulent
practices
To prevent the sale of
substandard foods
To protect the consumers
from poisonous and
harmful foods

40. B. SALE OF CERTAIN ADMIXTURES
PROHIBITED
Sale by himself or by his servant or agent is prohibited in
case of:
• cream which has not been prepared exclusively from
milk or which contains less than 25% of milk fat
• milk which containts added water
• ghee which contains any added matter not exclusively
derived from milk fat
• selling skimmed milk as whole milk
• mixture of two or more edible oils as an edible oil
• vanaspati to which ghee or any other substance has
been added

41. • any article of food which contains any artificial
sweetener beyond the prescribed limit
• turmeric containing any foreign substance
• mixture of coffee and other substance except chicory
• dahi or curd not made out of milk
• milk or milk products containing constituents other
than of milk

42. C. PROCEDURE FOR SAMPLING AND
ANALYSIS
• Any food Inspector can enter and inspect any place
where any article of food is manufactured or stored for
sale or stored for the manufacture of any other article
of food for sale or exposed or exhibited for sale or
where any adulterant is manufactured or kept and take
samples of such article of food or adulterant for
analysis.
• notice will be issued by the Inspector in writing then
and there to the seller indicating his intention
• three samples are taken and the signature of the seller is
affixed to them

43. • one sample is sent for analysis to Public Analyst under
intimation to the Local Health Authority
• The other two samples are sent to the local health
authority for further reference
D. PENALTIES
• Guilt will be punished with imprisonment for a term
which shall not be less than six months and up to 3
years and with fine up to one thousand rupees.